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Friday, March 5, 2010
Woven Bones’ debut album set for May 18
Mere weeks after the release of a new album from fellow “Casual Victim Pile” sensations Harlem — whose “Free Drugs” is out on Matador April 8 — Austin fuzz rock trio Woven Bones will debut their first LP May 18 on HoZac Records.
“In and Out and Back Again” will feature nine tracks of the band’s throbbing rock. They kick off their SXSW dates March 14 with a show at the Mohawk also featuring the Octopus Project and Man or Astro-Man — a mean bill by any conventional reckoning — and will return to the Red River hot spot April 8 and again on May 28 for Chaos in Tejas, Austin’s other beloved multi-venue extravaganza.
Check out the full track listing below the jump.
- I’ll Be Runnin’
- Guess You Already Knew
- Seven Year Mirror
- If It Feels Alright
- Your Way With My Life
- Creepy Bone
- Half Sunk Into The Seats
- Couldn’t Help But Stare
- Blind Conscience
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SXSW 2010: 10 questions for Tape Deck Mountain
San Diego native Travis Trevisan logged time as a lead guitar player for several Southern California live bands but struck out on his own for solo project Tape Deck Mountain, a fuzz-washed rock trio also featuring drummer Paul Remund and bassist Jordan Clark. Debut album “Ghost” finds the trio in top form, with ethereal, ever-shifting guitar soundscapes that recall My Bloody Valentine and vintage K Records noise pop. Trevisan took our questions via phone.
Will this year be your first time playing South by Southwest?
Yeah, this is our first time. We’re pretty excited. It’s kind of cool that Cheap Trick is playing. My dad thinks the band is more legit now, because we’re playing a festival with Cheap Trick and he’s heard of Cheap Trick. Plus, I’ve had friends call me from South by Southwest in the past and say it was just awesome and that they ran into Lou Reed and there’s free food and beer everywhere. So we look forward to it.
Tape Deck Mountain’s sound is self-proclaimed to be “mid-fi.” Most people have at least a passing idea of what it means to be lo-fi, or hi-fi, but how would you define mid-fi?
Well, it’s not really self-proclaimed. I put that on our MySpace as a joke, because a lot of San Diego bands that were lo-fi, like Wavves and Dum Dum Girls, were getting a lot of attention. So a friend of mine was like “You should call yourselves mid-fi.” And I thought that was pretty hilarious so I put it on our MySpace page. And then it ended up in our bio and kind of got passed around the Internet after that. But I think it’s funny. It was intended as sort of a reaction to how most of the bands from San Diego getting attention outside of San Diego are lo-fi.
When did you first start singing and playing guitar?
Actually, I first started music with playing the saxophone in junior high, and I think I picked up the guitar when I was 16. But this is the first band I’ve ever sung in. I’ve played in other bands in San Diego, playing lead guitar, but those bands sort of flared into and out of existence. And I got tired of that. I kind of wanted to take the reins, but I had to write my own songs and sing to do that, because the vocalist always kind of sets the pace.
Did you grow up in a musical family?
My mom is a piano teacher, and my great-grandmother played an organ in church, but other than that nobody else in my family really plays music. No one’s even all that into it. My parents went to one of my shows and liked it but thought it was kind of weird. But I am trying to introduce my nephew who’s a year old to good music. I think it’s working. He’s playing a little toy piano right now. It’s very John Cage-y.
It’s taken Tape Deck Mountain a while to release its debut full-length — why did “Ghost” require so much time to work on?
Really it was just finding a label to release it and then waiting for all the stuff on the business side to line up that made it take so long. It was done by last summer, but it didn’t get released until the fall. But I think that was a good thing. It didn’t feel like a summer album to me. It’s kind of a dark album, and not too happy. It makes me think of something I’d listen to when it’s raining or dark outside. I also got laid off in 2008, so I had the time.
Did having a record to focus on make it easier to deal with that?
Yeah. I was working at this newspaper, the North County Times, which was about 30 minutes north of San Francisco. When I lost that job, the album definitely gave me stuff to do in my free time. It was good to be able to finish writing the songs and finish writing the album and work on promoting the band and going out and meeting people. Since then, I haven’t found a new one yet. I’m just focusing on music and seeing where that goes.
On the blog there’s a cool video of you doing a cover of Danzig’s “Mother,” which is an unexpected but an enjoyable selection. How did that come about?
I’m somewhat of a casual fan of Danzig and the Misfits, and I was just playing a couple of chords at my house, just sort of jamming, and then I realized it basically fit with that song. So we decided to cover it and it worked out. I just like the way it sounds. Paul doesn’t even like the song “Mother” but he likes our version. We’ll probably be playing it at South by Southwest, but that’s the only cover we’ll do. We do want anyone thinking we’re a cover band.
The band has a pretty unusual name. What was the inspiration behind it?
I took it from the title of a song by the Microphones song title. They have this song called “Escape from Tape Deck Mountain,” which I always thought sounded cool.
A lot of Tape Deck Mountain’s earlier recordings were released on, appropriately, cassette tapes. What do you enjoy about that format?
Yeah, the first EP was on cassette. The first albums I bought were on cassettes, so it’s kind of a nostalgia thing for me. Also, it’s cool that you can’t skip ahead to the next track. You kind of have to wait and listen to the whole album, so it’s good for people who care about the full album. Even on vinyl it’s a lot easier to find and listen to just one song.
Do you think cassettes are about due for a vinyl-style resurgence?
I think it’s already happening, actually. Pitchfork just did a little expose article on cassette tapes and cassette tape culture. I think they’re already making their way back, which makes me happy.
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Video: Spoon on Letterman
Spoon played “Got Nuffin” from their latest release, “Transference,” last night on the Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman introduced them as “a fine young band from Austin, Texas.” Spoon plays Stubb’s on March 17 as part of the NPR SXSW showcase.
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Dog & Duck announces free SXSW show
The bigtop is already up for St. Paddy’s day; why not have a Southby show the next day? That’s the thought behind the Dog & Duck’s SXSW day party, free and open to all. Here’s the lineup:
1pm The Motions (Columbus, MS)
1:40pm Contact High Five (Austin, TX)
2:20pm Hilary York (Austin, TX)
3pm Susan Cowsill Band (New Orleans, LA)
3:45pm Moonlight Towers (Austin, TX)
4:25pm The Service Industry (Austin, TX)
5:15pm Generationals (New Orleans, LA)
6:15pm The Meat Puppets (Phoenix, AZ)
7:30pm Grant Hart (St. Paul, MN)
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